Hunter Biden and His Laptop
His first traumatic brain injury happened when he was two years old, in the car accident that killed his mother and his sister, and smashed up his older brother as well as himself.
It wasn't a wealthy family but they were prosperous enough not to worry about private school tuition and the necessities of life. But being a Biden came with expectations, strong ones. The Catholic upbringing. Ethics, and service to others. His Dad's work in government set a high bar for public service. His older brother's academic, public service, military and political successes came in a seemingly unbroken string of achievement.
I wonder, though, what all those expectations, and the residue of that childhood trauma, did to Hunter Biden. I wonder if at any time when he was working to get the grades and make the entrance requirements for Georgetown, if he ever thought "What else might I be doing? Are there other options for me? Is there anything I'm passionate about, other than making good by the standards of my loving family?"
Georgetown isn't one of the big "Party Schools" but it is likely that his problems with substance abuse began there. His fortune/misfortune is to have been born to a family with the expectation that they will look after one another, and the means to do so. When he seemed to 'need help' it was gotten for him, in short order.
Which kept him afloat. Which gave him chance after chance. He graduated Georgetown. He got a law degree from Yale. While it's unlikely those diplomas were wholly unearned, had he been the son of an unknown insurance broker of modest means, would he have made it all the way? Certainly he had the potential - intelligent, curious, creative enough to be interested and intrigued by new things. I'd be willing to bet, though, that he had a pattern of starting out really well, and then getting distracted, bored, or demotivated, and either abandoning or just scraping through on completing stuff.
Still, it was enough. Having an older brother successfully launched in State politics and a father in the U.S. Senate, he never had to worry about prestigious job opportunities. The name "Biden" did it all, a fact of which he was undoubtedly conscious, and possibly humiliated by. Had he not had that little problem with crack cocaine, alcohol, etcetera, the Biden name probably would have propelled him almost anywhere - but maybe not anywhere he really wanted to go.
His resume of lobbyist, board member, consultant, reveals a pattern. He was on the masthead, and he was a communication channel. Was he ever more than superficially interested in the actual businesses, their aims and goals? Did he ever get a sense of satisfaction or achievement from having accomplished something for a client or helped a business build something worthwhile?
Someone raised to believe that work and service should do good things, should make the world a better place. Someone also raised to be successful, to carry out activities of note, to shine in the public eye. Someone with deep childhood traumas and an escalating substance abuse disorder. In close proximity to money, power, and influence, on the international stage.
Yeah, there's likely to be some ugly stuff to drag out.
Yeah, Hunter's family probably did more than they should to enable him not to fail catastrophically during some crucial years.
But here are some other things to consider:
1. I would bet large money that none of Hunter's family's enabling stretched as far as "illegal" or even "unethical" in the public sense. That doesn't mean they didn't talk people into giving him chances he probably shouldn't have gotten, or found ways to minimize or amend harm done. They probably yanked him back from the brink a good many times. But breaking laws or engaging in deceitful, unethical things that would have done great harm to others? I'm betting NOT, no matter how the MAGAts try to spin it.
2. In spite of all that enabling, Hunter has clearly reached some level of self-knowledge that is allowing him to work at recovery and change. Will he relapse again? Possibly, that's how the disease works. But he has a better-than-average chance of continuing a recovery trajectory, and part of that will be getting more help to deal with the effects of traumatic brain injury and his long bouts with substances. Part of it will be learning what's best for HIM, apart from family history, the expectations he internalized, and the lucratively successful failures of his past. Who knows what directions the creativity he seems to be finding will lead?
3. If the chaotic, messy trajectory of his years in active addiction includes any real crime or corruption --as it well might-- he will pay a price, and it may or may not be a reasonable, proportionate price. The privilege of being Joe Biden's son has two edges, and one of them is that his sins WILL be judged with the greatest attention and scrutiny of the public eye and a very hostile lynch mob baying on the sidelines.
If Hunter Biden's early life had been similar but his father had been a politically influential and well-connected banker who'd never held elected office, his personal and professional trajectory might have been very much the same. But it would have been a private, family tragedy, a personal struggle, and the consequences of any crimes or misdemeanors would be worked out without the roar of public conflict and the distorting lens of partisanship on either side.
So here's what I think: Whatever solid thread of fact there is in the trove of rumor, innuendo, conspiracy-mongering, emails, documents, and laptop files, THAT thread will be acknowledged and appropriately dealt with, as impartially as possible, by the Biden family. Beyond that, they will do nothing to add credibility, fuel, or attention to a politically-motivated shit show orchestrated by authoritarian wannabes.
Nor will the Bidens play the "tu quoque" game, pointing out the myriad corruptions and visibly flaunted crimes committed by family members of [Redacted]. Democratic leadership will take a similar line, though of course, Democrats being Democrats, there will be plenty of kibitzing from Party rank and file.
And in the long run, in spite of the painful endurance required, this will result in a net gain for the Bidens, and a net loss for the GOP, as everyone who isn't already a cult member perceives the difference between who the Bidens are, and what the GOP is. Add in the complete lack of any tangible accomplishment that a GOP House will be able to deliver while it's lost in the clown show, and they will not be happy campers by the time November of 2024 rolls around.
So please, my DU friends and colleagues, try to keep a sense of that bigger picture. Add as little as possible to the frothing scum. The Bidens will deal with this family tragedy as they have dealt with every other family tragedy: Appropriately, with dignity, continuing their best efforts to do right and serve the public all the while.
The best thing we can do is remain confident in them, and refrain from feeding trolls.
wearily,
Bright
= new reply since forum marked as read
